A Different Man Wore His Cologne to Work (Old Flame)

Lyrics

[Intro]
Just another Tuesday.
Three-oh-seven P.M.
The server room hums its one long note.
Someone's microwaving popcorn down the hall.

[Verse 1]
I was staring at a spreadsheet, column G, I think.
Thinking about the budget for the third quarter.
And a man from accounting walked past my desk.
I don't know his name. Mark, maybe. Or David.
He was just a shape in a grey suit.
But he left something behind in the recycled air.
Sandalwood. And something sharp, like gin.
And the numbers on my screen blurred into rain.

[Chorus]
It wasn't you.
Of course, it wasn't you.
But for a second, the whole building tilted on its axis.
The immense edifice of memory, built on one impalpable drop.
A different man wore your cologne to work today.
And suddenly, it's 2009 again.

[Verse 2]
I remember that scent on your blue wool coat.
The one you left at my place for a year after you were gone.
I remember it on the collar of your shirt, the night we fought on Elm Street.
You said I was asking for the impossible.
I said you were giving nothing at all.
The truth was probably somewhere in between, wasn't it?
The scent was the only thing that didn't take a side.
It just was.

[Chorus]
It wasn't you.
I know it wasn't you.
But for a second, the fluorescent light felt like the moon over the lake.
The immense edifice of memory, crashing through the firewall of the years.
A different man wore your cologne to work today.
And he has no idea what he's done.

[Bridge]
They say the nose is a direct line to the past.
No thalamus to filter it, no logic to get in the way.
Just a ghost in the limbic system.
You are a ghost.
You are a chemical signature in a hallway I walk down every day.
And this man, this Mark or David, is just the messenger.
A poor, unwitting medium for a conversation I thought was over.

[Outro]
He's gone now.
Down the hall, to the breakroom probably.
The scent is fading.
Mixing with the coffee and the printer toner.
The numbers in column G are sharp again.
The budget is still due Friday.
It's just another Tuesday.
Almost.